I was on the treadmill yesterday morning. I do it every day for an hour. It’s the best 1-mile walk of the day! Then it happened. I got a text from an old friend. And it made my day.

My friend is someone you have probably heard of. He is one of America’s most popular communicators and keeps an incredibly busy schedule. I won’t use his name because he wouldn’t want the credit for what I’m about to say.

My friend has pastored a megachurch, is a close friend of Billy and Franklin Graham, and has entertained millions, from the rich and famous to people you will never hear of. But yesterday morning, I was on his mind. We hadn’t spoken in a couple of months, and I certainly didn’t expect to hear from him yesterday.

And then my phone lit up. I looked at it and saw my friend had just sent me a picture along with a message. It was 32 words of pure encouragement. And it made my day – because of what he said and because of who said it.

It cost him a couple minutes and blessed me for 24 hours and counting. Encouragement does that. The encouragement guy in the Bible was a fellow named Barnabas. He stood by Mark when no one else would. Mark went on to write the first Gospel, the one on which the others were built. He stood by Paul when no one else would. Paul went on to write a third of the New Testament. Without Barnabas, one could argue there would have been no Gospels or epistles. Barnabas was good at one thing – encouragement.

Studies tell us we need 17 words of encouragement for every negative word we hear. And we need 13 words of encouragement each day just to stay level. Have you met the man who said, “Please stop encouraging me! I’ve had too much encouragement already!” I haven’t met him either.

So go out today and make a difference. Encourage someone. It can change their day, and that can change their life. And it can be done with something as simple as a text.

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https://proudamericans.org/wp-content/uploads/Texting.jpg207198Mark Denisonhttps://proudamericans.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Proud-Americans-Logo1.pngMark Denison2018-02-21 03:16:232018-01-30 19:12:30The Power of a Text